In Which They Argue
by Lariren-Shadow
Summary: Zuko poked at his food for little before he pushed it away and stormed off to bed. He didn't need her telling him what to do. He ran a whole country; he could easily take care of himself. Zutara


**Disclaimer**: Don't own.

**A/N**: This was inspired by another one of **jesterry's** choices for the Zutara Secret Santa. However its really fluffy and fluff was a no-no so I went with it to try to get my old writing style back because while I like the last two stories I wrote I need to get back into the much more comic fluff style I do. I'm not sure if I like how this turned out though.

* * *

Zuko stared at the food in front of him. It wasn't that he hated any of it, on the contrary he liked everything just not the amount of each item. The amount of meat was about half of what he wanted (he wasn't as obsessed as Sokka but he did like more than a few small pieces). The amount of steamed vegetables was more than he thought he could eat. The only part he couldn't complain about was the rice. He glared at the hand that fed him.

"What?" Katara asked as she assembled her own food.

"I'm perfectly capable of feeding myself, I don't need you to do it for me," he grumbled.

"I've been watching you eat nothing but meat and rice every dinner for the past week. You need to eat more than that. What you have is what you should be eating. Tomorrow I was even thinking of asking your staff to prepare a vegetarian dinner. There's a spicy soup I made for Aang that I could show them how-"

He slammed his hands down on the table and she jumped a little. "Stop! I like what _I've_ been asking _my_ kitchen staff to make. _You're_ a guest here and you're listened to because _I_ told everyone to listen to you. I don't need you telling me what to do!"

"I'm not telling you what to do!"

"Yes, you are! You're telling me what to eat, the other day you told me I needed stretch more after I finish firebending, and you've come into my office multiple times to tell me to go to bed at night and nagging me to clean it as well. No wonder Aang left you." The second the words came out he knew they were a mistake.

"Fine!" She stood and glared at him with her hands on her hips. "Go ahead and never sleep and get cramps and get sick. See what I care! I'll be gone in the morning so you won't have to listen to me ever again!" With that she turned on her heel and left.

Zuko poked at his food for little before he pushed it away and stormed off to bed. He didn't need her telling him what to do. He ran a whole country; he could easily take care of himself.

* * *

Over the next few weeks Zuko noticed certain things missing from his day. Usually tea appeared around noon, just when he began to feel a headache coming on. His mail usually came to him in piles he deemed urgent, less urgent, should look at after the first two, you have to be joking, and personal. These were the little things that he missed.

Most of all he missed Katara. He missed having her there to ask her opinion on matters and he missed her as a sparring partner. He missed her barging into his office to make him either move, eat, or sleep; it depended on what time a day she showed up. He missed her stories at dinner and the way she laughed at his (he had a few funny stories and he was sure she'd heard them all now at least twice, but still, it was nice to hear her laugh).

His dreams did not help his newfound loneliness. Dreaming of Katara wasn't new for him, he'd dreamed of her from the first time he saw her without her bulky parka on. Having her around had actually made them better because she was physically there to nag him or annoy him, reminding him they were just friends and nothing else. Without her here, however, he thought about his _feelings_ for her and made him wonder if her skin really was as soft as he thought it was or if she would moan his name the way he dreamed she would.

Damn her. She was managing to somehow control his life from wherever she was. Stupid, annoying, beautiful, caring Katara.

Now he had to get her back so maybe he could get some work done.

* * *

Dear Katara,

There's an important matter dealing with the Northern Water Tribe. I'd very much like your opinion on the matter.

Sincerely,

Fire Lord Zuko

* * *

Dear Fire Lord Zuko,

What's the issue? Oh and I'm doing fine, thank you for asking.

Sincerely,

Master Katara

P.S. You use your title I'll use mine.

* * *

Dear Katara,

It's hard to explain in a letter, please just come. Also I think I pulled a muscle in my leg.

Sincerely,

Zuko

* * *

Dear Zuko,

I'm sure, if you tried, you could explain it. You weren't stretching, were you?

I'm learning about all kinds of different medical herbs and trying to combine them with my healing ability. So far I've either helped a patient recover from cow-chicken pox sooner or she just got better faster on her own. I'm waiting for another patient to try this out on.

Sincerely,

Katara

* * *

Dear Katara,

No, too complicated.

I've been stretching every day, thank you very much. It feels better now so I'm not sure what it was.

That sounds interesting. We've been having some problems with cow-chicken pox in the city so anything you could suggest would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Zuko

He smiled to himself as he sent the hawk out with his letter. He knew she'd come if it meant helping people.

* * *

Two weeks later she came barging into his office.

"You haven't been sleeping enough," she greeted him.

"I sleep," he retorted.

"Sure you do. What's this important matter with the Northern Water Tribe? And do you have something set up to help with the cow-chicken pox?"

"Ah, about those things," he couldn't look her in the eye and felt his face heat up.

"You lied to me?" She accused.

"Yes, no," he fumbled with words. "Kind of. I'm guessing there have been a few case of cow-chicken pox in the city, there always is."

"I'm leaving now. Don't write to me unless you have something useful to say!" She turned on her heel and stormed out.

Jumping to his feet Zuko started after her screaming "wait!"

"Why?" She called back.

"Because I need to talk to you!"

She turned to face him and Zuko was reminded, once again, that she had as much fire in her as any firebender. Neither noticed the small crowd of servants watching them.

"Talk to me? What could you possibly want to talk to me about? Your letters don't tell me anything. You asked me to come here for some made up reason. If you wanted to talk to me you could have written to me like a normal person or maybe asked me to visit!"

"I couldn't have asked you just to visit! You left because we had a fight! You would only come back for an apology which I'm trying to give!"

"You're what?"

"I'm trying to say I'm sorry and you're not letting me!"

"Oh Zuko," she said softly. "Are you?"

"Am I what?" He asked.

"Sorry."

"Well yeah. Some of the things you nagged me about I really should be doing, like sleeping and eating. I'm sorry for yelling at you. And I missed you."

"You missed me?"

He scowled. "Of course I missed you. You're my friend."

"Oh, right, we're friends." She sounded disappointed.

He felt his face heat up again. "Well, actually, maybe, we could, that is you and I could-"

She put her hand over his mouth to stop him from talking. "How about we talk about this somewhere a little more private?" She tilted her head to the side to indicate the crowd. His eyes widened and he nodded.

* * *

Zuko stared at the food in front of him, noting that there wasn't as much meat as he would have liked. He heard an annoyed huff as his son looked at his own food.

"I don't like vegetables," the boy complained.

"You need to eat them if you want to grow up and be strong like your dad," Katara told the boy sternly.

The prince opened his mouth to protest but Zuko spoke first. "It's better not to try to argue with your mom, she tends to always be right."

Katara scoffed. "Tend to be right? I'm always right. Now both of you eat up and we're all going to bed early tonight because you two stayed up late last night."

Zuko smiled as he began eating, knowing she was always going to get her way.

* * *

**Reviews are always welcome.**


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